From Truth, Knowledge and Selflessness, comes Bravery
by DamonsImpala
Summary: Takes place a year after Tris arrives in Dauntless. This story follows three girls who are now sixteen. It tells their adventures starting on the day of the Choosing Ceremony to the best of their days in Dauntless. This fic is just for fun, with no real plot-line. Co-written by Erica and Aisling :) DISCLAIMER: I only own Maria. Tris/Four, Erika/Uriah, Maria/Zeke Aisling/O.C.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Erika glances carefully at her reflection in the mirror. Since she's been raised in Abnegation, she's only permitted to look in the mirror once every three months, since it's considered self indulgence. She does it tenderly; a lot can change in three months.

She's tall, but she knew that already. A bit pale, but that's nothing new. Erika thinks she's quite pretty, but quickly rids the selfish thought from her mind. She flicks her straight brown hair back over her shoulder in one quick movement and then notices how her eye and hair colour match almost perfectly. Huh.

Today is the day of the Choosing Ceremony. This is an important day. It's an important day for everyone, but she can't help but feel that it's especially important for her, because today is the day when she can finally leave her horrible father; the day when she will join her brother in Dauntless like he told her to three years ago.

:::::::::::::::::::

Aisling is worried. Today is the day of the Choosing ceremony and she has absolutely no idea what faction she will choose, only that she needs to get out of Erudite. She is Divergent, basically meaning she fits into more than one category of personality types.

She has two brothers, neither of whom she really finds as wonderful role models, so unlike some people; she won't just follow in their footsteps. One of her brothers decided to stay in Erudite, and the other went to Dauntless, but never made it past initiation.

She sits in her room and stares at herself in the mirror and wonders how her new faction might change her. She's happy with herself; her bright blue eyes with long dark lashes and long straight brown hair to her waist. She snorts out loud with laughter as she imagines herself wearing the typical yellow clothes from Amity, or the awful grey outfits from Abnegation. Then she sighs and stands. "I'm ready." She calls out to her family. But she's not, really.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Maria is nervous. She has been raised in Candor after her parents adopted her from another faction unknown to her parents. They told her she could find out if she wanted, but she didn't. For some reason she didn't want to know the truth, which is odd, since she's from Candor. Actually, wait- no it's not because Maria has always known what faction she would choose; Dauntless. It seemed to be the only one that fit her, so her results for the Choosing Ceremony didn't really come as a surprise.

On her way out the front door, as she tries not to think about how this would be her last time to walk there, she takes one last look at herself in the mirror. Her tanned skin is dark in the morning light and her long curved hair flows gently down her back. She smiles at her reflection in excitement and gets a pleasant surprise by how pretty she suddenly looks. I should smile more often, she thinks to herself, as she shuts the door, leaving her old life behind her.

::::::::::::::::::::::

Erika starts to climb the twenty flights of stairs to reach the Choosing ceremony, following the other Abnegations. She looks below to see some Erudite following them and some Candor too. She wonders how many of them already know what they'll choose.

Aisling exits the elevator and watches the Abnegation climb the stair with pity. At least she knows she could never be Abnegation. She pushes with the crowd, into the room where the Ceremony will be held.

Maria enters the room carefully, a little unsure of herself, but once she sees the familiar room she relaxes. She knows what to do.

The room is arranged in concentric circles. On the edges stand the sixteen year olds from every faction. They arrange themselves in alphabetical order of the last names they may leave behind today. Maria goes to stand beside a boy from Abnegation.

Aisling watches the other circle out of the corner of her eye, where rows of chairs for the families are located. There are five sections according to the different factions.

The responsibility to conduct the ceremony rotates each year and this year it's Amity. They don't have a leader, but a representative instead, Johanna Reyes.

Erika glares at the last circle containing the five metal bowls that each contain a substance to represent each faction, grey stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless and glass for Candor.

Maria jumps as she feels a hand on her shoulder and she turns to see her mother.

"I love you," her mother whispers and Maria smiles in return. They both know where Maria will end up, it's no big secret.

"Aisling," a voice whispers harshly and she whips around to see her grinning older brother who reaches out a hand towards her. She stretches out and takes it, giving it a quick squeeze. "It'll be okay." He whispers and she smiles. "Sure." She replies.

Erika watches her father out of the corner of her eye. They said their goodbyes, of course they did, although she can't say she will miss him, and she doubts he'll miss her much either.

Welcome," says a voice, "Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony." It's Johanna.

"Welcome to the day where our dependents who are now sixteen, will decide what kind of people they will be."

Aisling sighs a little, still unsure of what she might choose.

Erika starts to smile, totally ready.

Maria tenses up, waiting.

"Decades ago our ancestors realized that the fault of human nature was to blame for a warring world. So they divided into factions. Those who blamed aggression formed Amity."

Aisling smiles, nope, not for her.

Erika raises an eyebrow at the happily smiling people from Amity and waits patiently.

Maria glances at them warily. Their permanent kindness scares her, it's unnatural.

"Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite."

This makes Aisling frown, she has been in Erudite for sixteen years, and she's quite smart, she knows that.

Erika puffs out a breath as she imagines herself in Erudite; being _sensible-_ please.

Maria snorts under her breath, knowing she could never have pulled off being in Etudite, she's far too intellectually lazy.

"Those who blamed duplicity created Candor."

Aisling is irritated now. She could probably make it in Candor too. Ugh.

Erika shrugs, she could get away with being in Candor but she knows she won't go there.

Maria waits. She waits for is to come. She was brought up in Candor, but she knows where she belongs.

"Those who blamed selfishness made the Abnegation."

Aisling stands a little straighter, confident because she knows she would never go there.

Erika smiles; happy to be finally leaving it behind.

Maria grins openly, knowing what's coming next.

"And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless."

Suddenly Aisling just knows, this is what she will choose.

Erka feels her eyes widen with the excitement of seeing her brother again.

Maria nods to herself. This is where she's meant to be.

"In our factions we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life. Apart from them we would not survive."

There is a harsh silence where the thought of impending doom fills the minds of every single person present, except maybe the people from Amity.

Johanna reads the first name. A boy stands from Amity and not surprisingly, cuts his palm and holds it over the bowl of earth.

The next name called is Aisling's. She finds that she is shaking, but as soon as she notices, she puts her nerves aside.

She takes the knife and cuts her palm carefully. Then she walks over to the Dauntless bowl and watches her blood sizzle on the coals. Then she makes her way over to the Dauntless section.

Erika jumps when she hears her name.

She stumbles up to Johanna and takes the knife, hastily cutting her palm and throws it over the Dauntless bowl, glad that it's finally been done.

Maria hears her name and walks confidently up and takes the knife, wincing as she cuts her palm. She puts her hand over the coals and feels a huge weight lift off her shoulders.

They have made their choice at last.


	2. Chapter 2

**Just wanted to say that this fic is set one year after Tris arrives in Dauntless xxx and thanks for all the reviews, I'm really grateful. Just F.Y.I this chapter is insanely long :)**

Chapter 2

Once the last person makes their choice it's time to leave. The Dauntless exit first, leading them to the stairs and all of a sudden they start running, letting out whoops, shouts and laughter as dozens of thundering feet move and different rhythms.

They run down and it doesn't take long until they reach ground level and it doesn't take long until they reach ground level and exit the building.

The Dauntless run down the street all together. They round the corner, just in time to hear the familiar sound of the train horn.

The crowd spread out in a long line. The train glides toward us on steel rails, its lights flashing, its horn blaring. The door of each car is open, waiting for the Dauntless to pile in, and they do, group by group until only the new initiates are left.

The Dauntless- born initiates are used to doing this by now, so in a second it's just faction transfers left. This is their only chance, it's now or never.

So they start to jog alongside a car and then throw themselves sideways and climb on with the help of some people who are already on board.

Erika watches as the people sitting around her in the car get used to the idea of being Dauntless.

"Hey," she says to a couple of girls who she had noticed earlier, "What are your names?"

Aisling looks up immediately, her side fringe flicking back off her face. She gives Erika a once over before saying confidently, "Hi. I'm Aria." She smiles sweetly.

Maria however, looks up more slowly with great hesitation. "Sage," she says softly, a blank look on her face, "I'm Sage."

Erika bounces on her knees happily, I'm Erika," She tells them in a confident fashion. Sage smiles carefully while Aria grins happily.

"They're jumping off!" A boy shouts and everyone looks up immediately.

Erika stands quickly and pulls Aria and Sage with her to the edge of the car. Sage looks out and trips over her foot when she sees the jump.

"Ready?" Aria asks with a smile. She offers Erika and Sage a hand. They both take it and they all stand hand in hand about to jump.

"How are you excited right now?" Sage hisses.

"Three, two," Erica counts down, "One."

They launch off the train car. For a moment there's that wonderful weightless feeling then suddenly a smack as they hit the rooftop of a building. They roll around and let go of each other's hands quickly.

Erika laughs loudly, "That was great!" she says.

Aria is grinning too and the pair give each other a high five. Sage rolls her eyes.

"Everybody shut up!" shouts a man at the other end of the roof. He has long dark hair, almost covering his steel blue eyes and a ton of facial piercings that glint in the sunlight.

"Right, I'm Eric, one of the Dauntless leaders. Several stories below us is the member's entrance to the compound. If you can't jump off, you shouldn't be here." He says coldly. "Now, which of out initiates want to go first?" he asks with an evil look in his eyes.

Without even thinking Sage steps forward. Erica steps clear and lets her pass. She's absolutely terrified of heights, but she has to just get this over and done with. So without hesitation she simply steps off the side of the roof.

After falling for what felt like forever she hits something hard that gives way beneath her and cradles her body. It's a net. Sage lets out a small laugh and looks up to where there are a few hands stretched out towards her. She grabs one and pulls herself out of the net and stumbles, catching herself at the last minute.

"Name?" a boy asks.

She hesitates before remembering. "Sage," she mutters.

"I'm Four." The boy tells her.

She nods and glances up at the building and feels her stomach drop at the sight. "Oh, crap… Did I jump from _that_?" she asks and Four laughs softly.

"Scared of heights?" he asks and she nods with a guilty smile.

Four looks behind him and calls out to his friend, "Hey Zeke, would you give Sage a hand?" He then turns back to face her, "You'll learn to ignore the fear here, trust me." He turns back to the net for the next person.

A guy who looks about three years older than Sage walks over to her. He is hot, that's basically the only way to describe him. Dark skin and hair with a cheeky grin and deep brown eyes. "Scared of heights?" he asks her.

This time Sage just laughs, "Is it that obvious?" she asks.

"Well, you're still out of breath and you kind of look like you're gonna fall over any second, so yeah, I guess it's just a little obvious." Zeke teases.

Sage grins, "How about you distract me?" she asks, unintentionally making the question sound like a flirtation.

Immediately Zeke's eyes light up, "What kind of distraction were you thinking?"

Sage smiles, "Well, I'm not from Erudite, but I heard somewhere what kissing someone distracts them from a panic attack," she says in a falsely innocent voice.

Zeke wraps a hand around her waist and pulls her closer. "And are you on the verge of a panic attack?" he asks softly and Sage feels her heart leap. This was so not to go so far. But, a new faction, new her.

"Why don't I just lie for the fun, and say yes?" she asks.

"Oh really, Candor girl?" He smirks.

"It's-" Sage is about to correct him and tell him her name, but she never gets to finish because Zeke is kissing her.

The he pulls away and Sage laughs softly, "Right, I mean I was the first jumper, so why not give the people something to talk about?" Sage says rudely, pulling away a little.

Zeke opens his mouth to reply but is rudely interrupted.

_Meanwhile_

It's Erika's turn to jump now, and she can't wait. She does a little run and leaps off the roof top, gracefully soaring to the bottom, and landing not so gracefully in the net.

A hand reaches in and pulls her out. She looks up to thank the person but stops, completely speechless.

"I'm Four," The person in front of her says.

"No you're not. You're Tobias." Erika says rudely.

"How do you know that?" he hisses, "And do I know you?"

"I'm your sister, am I really that hard to forget?" She asks shrilly.

"You're in Dauntless?" he whispers, shocked.

She pushes him gently, "Yep."

Suddenly her brother picks her up in a bear hug. Back in Abnegation they were quite close since they were the only ones who knew about what Marcus did.

"Hey, Erika?" Tobias puts her down carefully.

She looks up at him innocently, "Yeah?"

"Are you Divergent?" he says quietly.

"What? How did you know that, I'm not supposed to tell anybody!" Erika is confused

"Because I am too." He tells her grimly.

The topic changes fairly quickly after that. They don't really talk about home, and Erika is grateful for that. After Tobias left for Dauntless Marcus beat Erika twice as much as he used to. She shudders at the thought.

"Look, you'll be fine, okay? I'm your instructor and I wont let you become factionless, I promise." Tobias was always protective over his sister, he even stood up to Marcus for her once.

_Meanwhile_

Aria leaps off the roof and enjoys the quick feeling of falling before hitting the ground hard. Only it's not actually the ground, she's landed in a net.

"Hey Zeke!" A boy calls out. He's standing next to Erika with a protective arm around her. Aria clambers out of the net and stands watching the scene before her.

"When you two are ready, why don't you give Sage a private tour? I'll be doing the same with my sister." He nudges Erika and Aria gasps, and sees that Sage does too.

"And leave the rest to Eric, then?" the boy beside Sage calls back.

Erika's brother shrugs, "Sure."

Aria sees Zeke lean down and whisper something to Sage who shakes her head and turns away, but he grabs her arm and says something else. After a moment Sage points way off into the distance and he nods.

Then Erika walks over to Aria, introducing her to her brother, Tobias.

"We'll meet up later, okay?" Erika says and Aria agrees. She can't wait for the tour, the Dauntless compound is so different from Erudite.

***Later that day, after the tours, both private and public***

Sage and Zeke enter the hall and see Erika and her brother sitting and talking. "Hey!" Sage calls out and Erika stands to hug her friend.

Zeke takes Erika's seat beside her brother and they start talking about people that the girls don't know.

"Aria will be here soon," Erika informs her.

"Cool… so you're Four's sister, huh?" Sage asks. Four was practically famous, or so Zeke had told her.

Erika blushes, "Yeah. Only his name's Tobias."

"Right." Sage says.

"Yeah."

"Hey you guys!" Aria's voice calls out and over Erika's shoulder Sage sees here prancing towards them.

The girls greet each other, but suddenly Tobias and Zeke join them. Tobias rests a hand on Erika's shoulder, "This is my sister Erika." He introduces her to Zeke with a smile.

Zeke grins, "So have you introduced her to Uriah yet? Nudge nudge, wink wink…"

"Wait," says Erika, "Who?"

"He's my brother," Zeke tells her, "I think you two would like each other, if you know what I mean…"

"She'd like _who_?" asks a voice a few feet away.

Erika turns to see a sexy-mother-fucker-who-looks-really-sexy-with-his-dark-hair-and-beautiful-dark-eyes.

"Speak of the devil," Zeke says fondly.

Erika's jaw drops and she bursts out laughing, unable to control herself, "Me and _him_?"

Uriah grins, "Yeah, baby."

Erika feels her heart melt and Sage laughs. "You're blushing," her friend nudges her.

Tobias grins and stage whispers, "That's what she does when she likes someone."

Erika punches him lightly, "And to think you didn't recognise me!"

"Hey, you guys I'm starving, let's go eat." says Zeke, hand in hand with Sage once more.

Everyone more or less agrees, except Tobias, who excuses himself politely, because he's meeting up with his girlfriend, Tris.

As they walk to the food hall, they automatically split into two groups. Erika is with Zeke, who is explaining to her how Uriah used to have a super girly voice, but then puberty hit and he became a manly man.

Sage and Aria, however, are talking to Uriah, who has just made an unbelievably disgusting and yet hilarious comment about eating ice pops.

The three of them are laughing so hard that they don't notice where they're going and Aria accidentally bashes into one of the Dauntless-born initiate's tables.

"Oh my God, sorry." She says, still laughing. She barely even glances at them, but she does hear it when one of the boys at the table says loudly, "She'll never make it past initiation."

Aria whirls around, no longer laughing. She puts on her badass face, "Yeah, and you will?" She laughs, "Just because you're Dauntless born, doesn't mean I can't be better than you suckers."

One of the boys smirks and watches her carefully. He has dark hair and lovely green eyes with an eyebrow piercing.

Another of the boys opens his mouth, as if to make a comeback, but the dark haired boy simply holds up his hand to silence him. Aria notices he has a snake tattoo twisted around his forearm.

"What's your name?" he asks, his green eyes curious.

"Aria. And you are?" she asks confidently, trying not to let him see that she thinks he's an absolute babe.

He smiles, showing nice white teeth, and amazingly pointed canines, "Seth."

"Well, Seth, thanks for your help, but I can handle myself." Aria tells him.

Some of the boys laugh, and Seth smiles too. "Of course you can. Well, Aria, I do hope you survive this." He says.

It's slightly dismissive, a definite conversation stopper, but Aria likes to have the last word.

Aria smiles cheekily, "Yeah, me too."

Then she turns and starts to walk away in the direction of the farthest table from him and his friends, with Sage and Uriah quick on her heels.

They haven't even sat down before Sage starts speaking, "Oh my God Aria, he is amazing! I really really hope you both make it and then go and live Dauntlessly ever after!"

Aria rolls her eyes coolly, "Is that even a thing?" Then her expression changes, literally in about the space of a millisecond she's gone from being all cool and collected to looking super excited. She clearly couldn't hold it in any longer. "I know! He _is _amazing, but I don't know, he could have just been one of those jackasses who just flirt all the time…" she looks uncertain.

Uriah interrupts, "Okay, two things. Firstly, Sage the only person I should hear you talking about like that is my brother. Secondly, Aria I'm almost positive he actually likes you and isn't just being a jackass."

Aria lets out a tiny squeak, "Really?" then she coughs and becomes serious once more, "Sorry, I mean, no surprise there." She flicks her hair over her shoulder, messing about.

Then Erika arrives with Zeke. Sage and Aria quickly fill them in on what they just missed.

"Which one is he?" Erika asks loudly.

"Shush!" Aria hits her, "The one with the dark hair and snake tattoo."  
Erika squints and then points in his direction, "Him? He is _hot_!"

Aria hits her again, "Shut up!"

"Sorry, sorry." Erika apologises quickly.

"Oh my God, I think he's looking at you!" Uriah imitates the girls' high pitched squeals.

Aria glares at him.

"Yay, look, there's chocolate cake!" Erika says. The sudden change in subject along with her eagerness makes everyone laugh.

"I dare you to eat ten slices in a row," Zeke says to his younger brother.

"Please, I'd eat twenty." Uriah scoffs.

"Right, well off you go then." Zeke says.

**Yay, so hope you enjoyed it, and please don't hesitate to leave a review :) xxxxxx**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Erika is still half asleep. The initiates are in the training hall, learning some fighting skills. She's meant to be throwing knives with Aria, but it's so hard to get motivated.

"What's going on over here?" Tobias yells at them and Aria jumps.

"Nothing." They mutter in unison.

"Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like. Come on, get to it!" he yells, even though they're standing right beside him.

Erika groans loudly but Tobias hold up a hand to shut her up.

"No special treatment. Get going." He says.

Erika glares at her brother and picks up a knife and tosses it at the target, hitting the bulls eye straight away. She says nothing, just stands and stares at it.

After a moment of staring at it himself, Tobias says softly, "You can do better." And he walks away, leaving her fuming.

"Don't listen to him, that was amazing." Aria tells her.

"No, he was right. I was like a whole centimetre off." Erika sighs heavily.

Aria stares at her friend in disbelief, "Are you being sarcastic? It's kinda hard to tell…"

"I'm serious. I _have _to make it. I need to get better." She tosses another knife angrily, and it knocks the other off the board, hitting the complete centre this time. She nods to herself, "That's better."

Sage taps her on the shoulder, "Hey, wanna teach me?"

Erika grins evilly and picks up another knife carefully, "Sure."

_Later that day_

"Aw, shit you guys… I'm dreading tomorrow, I really am." Erika mutters angrily.

Sage glances towards Aria, her eyebrows raised. "It'll be grand, Erika. I pity Aria, I really do. I mean, how unfortunate can you get?"

Aria groans in frustration. Tomorrow the three of them are doing their first part of initiation, and Aria will be wrestling Seth, that beautiful Dauntless-born she walked into yesterday. "Please, I don't want to think about it."

"Good thing you won't have to; out distraction has arrived." Sage says, and nods towards the line of boys walking towards them.

Uriah, Zeke and Tobias are heading their way.

"Shit, do I look okay?" Erika hisses.

"You look fine." Aria says softly, without even glancing in her direction.

When the boys reach them, Zeke goes straight to Aria, much to Sage's annoyance.

"Look, about that fight tomorrow…" he says, "I know there's supposed to be no special treatment, but I feel you ought to know that Seth was in a fight last night and has a huge bruise under his left rib, so that might be a nice place to land a punch."

Aria stares at him in shock, "Why did you just tell me that?"

"You need to survive this." Zeke says, and then he turns and grabs Sage, "You _all _need to survive this."

Sage pretends to ignore him for a minute, but can only last so long.

"Nervous?" Zeke mutters slyly with a grin. He knows she has a low pain tolerance, and wonders how she'll survive getting this tattoo.

"Shut up." She elbows him.

By this point they've almost reached the tattoo parlour. The three girls decided that after their first day in Dauntless initiation they would go out and completely finish the whole 'new faction; new me' thing.

Firstly, though, the piercings…

"Ew, no…. why would I get _there _pierced?" Erika asks after Tobias suggests a part of the body.

"Fine, suit yourself." Tobias says.

In the end she picks to get her ears pierced and then her cartilage as well. She exits the private booth afterward with a bright smile on her face.

"Aria, you next." She says cheerfully, "It won't hurt at all."

Aria has decided to get two cartilage piercings on her right ear, since she already has her ear lobes pierced. She's also getting her nose pierced.

The moment Aria disappears into the booth, however, Erika turns around and mimes screaming the F- word.

Tobias looks shocked, "What?" he asks.

"Oh that hurt so much, oh my God…" she mutters, making sure Aria can't hear.

Uriah hugs her waist, "It looks great though," he says.

Erika seems to relax in his arms. "I know right?" She says happily.

Then Aria exits the little booth.

"Well?" Tobias asks.

"Yeah, it was grand, just like you said Erika." She says calmly.

Erika almost falls over, "What?" she asks, "It didn't hurt at all?"

"Well, a little bit now, but not really… why?" asks Aria.

Erika groans, "Oh my God. I was _lying!_" she says, "It hurt so much!"

Aria looks surprised, "Huh, okay."

"My turn now!" Sage says, absolutely terrified. She pierced her own ears about ten times as a child, because she could never keep them open. But this time, she's getting her naval pierced.

She lets go of Zeke, who grins encouragingly at her.

She goes into the tiny booth. The girl simply reaches out and quickly pierces her and then it's over. And there's pain. And Sage thinks she yelps out loud. She knows she cries.

She stumbles out of the booth and straight into Zeke's arms. She lets out a sigh. "I am never punching another hole in myself ever again." She states, and Zeke laughs.

"Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but we're getting tattoo's now, babe."

Sage curses loudly. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

Erika goes first. She's decided to get half of the Abnegation sign running into the Dauntless sign. This takes _ages_, but the girls wait patiently. After all, Erika has Uriah in there with her the whole time.

Aria goes second. About an hour later, she exits the booth, a bandage over the inside of her forearm. She tells them she got 'Dum spiro spero' tattooed on her.

Then it's Sage's turn. She gets her old name tattooed across her right hip. This was easier to get done, in a sick kind of way, because the pain was constant.

Zeke has decided he wouldn't go in with her, as he's terrified of needles, which probably wouldn't have helped the situation at all.

Once the tattoos are finished and the girls are all sore, they go to the final shop; the hairdressers!

Erika gets her hair dyed black with purple streaks, which suits her amazingly.

Aria gets her hair dyed electric blue, which really brings out the colour of her bright blue eyes.

Sage dyes her hair black with fire red dip dye, making it look as if the bottom of her hair was engulfed in flames.

After all this has _finally _been done, they go to eat. While they eat they discuss the other initiates.

Erika's least favourites are the twins from Candor. Sage doesn't know them from her childhood, which helps a little. The twins are called Alice and Abbey, and Erika unfortunately has to fight the both of them tomorrow.

Aria, not so subtly asks about a scary girl who seems to be hanging out with Seth a lot, along with another boy who she knows as Finn.

"Oh, that's Katherine," Tobias tells her. "From Dauntless, she's terrifying."

Aria doesn't react much, just nods carefully and stares at the table until she can control her poker face. "Oh. Cool… They're not _together_ though, right?"

Tobias smiles, "I don't think so."

Then there were the Erudite, some of whom Aria knew already, like David. He was unbelievably quiet, but amazing with any sort of weapon.

There were more, (obviously), but none of them seemed to stand out much in comparison.

Eventually, there's no more to say, and there's a big day ahead of them tomorrow, so Tobias sends them to bed. Yes, that's exactly what happened.

"Erika, you should go to bed, it's getting late." Tobias says, without even looking up from his food.

Erika stares at him, completely shocked, and Uriah grabs her hand instinctively, as if to keep her with him. "Are you kidding me?" she asks.

Tobias looks up, "You can take your friends with you, if you want." He says.

Sage bursts out laughing, "Please."

"You're all going to be fighting two fights each tomorrow, so yes I am completely serious. Now go to bed." Tobias says in a low tone.

Erika glares at him and then kisses Uriah on the cheek, "Goodnight." She murmurs.

"'Night," he replies with a smile.

Erika turns to leave and Aria and Sage stand to follow her, when Tobias coughs, "Erika, don't I get a good night kiss too?" he asks with a grin.

She turns, "Eh, I don't think so." She says and carries on walking.

Stifling their giggles, the girls follow her to their rooms.

_The next day_

"Erika and Abbey up first." Tobias says.

I won't bore you with the details, but basically somewhere in there Abbey manages to hit Erika in the face, leaving Erika with a bleeding nose.

"Ow, my nose!" Erika yells, leaving the other girl stunned. "Oh my God, y nose, I can't feel it... I've lost my nose!"

But Erika doesn't give up. She quickly gets herself together again and is doing pretty well until she loses the fight.

Then, she goes to fight Alice. This time, Uriah walks in the door mid-fight. He starts to cheer her on, and this builds on her confidence. In the end, Erika wins. Immediately after she's announced the winner she throws herself into Uriah's arms, and he hugs her, "Well done," he says.

"Sage and Finn." Tobias barks.

Sage isn't quite sure how she manages it, but she somehow wins the fight. She feels kind of bad, since he's originally from Dauntless and a friend of Seth's, but what can you do?

Next, she fights another girl, Anna from Candor. She loses; probably due to the fact that she knew the girl from her home town and didn't want to hurt her. I know, excuses, excuses...

"Seth and Aria."

Aria steps up and so does Seth. Aria lunges froward to punch him but he blocks her, grabbing her wrist and whirling her around so that he has his arm around her waist. Aria freezes, and then whirls around to face him again. She grabs his beanie off his head and puts it on her own. Seth grins slightly.

"It suits you," he murmurs.

Aria smiles happily, "I know."

Suddenly they're kissing. The whole room is silent, just watching in shock. Aria is the first to pull away, but they don't let each other go.

"Disqualified!" Tobias barks harshly, but they don't care.

"I thought this way might have been best," Seth tells Aria.

"I don't know about that, but I won't complain." She smirks and kisses him back.

Suddenly there's cheering behind her and Uriah and Erika are jumping up and down. "You go girl!" Uriah shouts.

"Yeah, you do." Seth whispers.

_After the rest of the fights_

Erika slumps down at a table, her nose still bleeding heavily, but she's got it more or less under control. Uriah hasn't let go of her hand at all since the fights.

"You okay?" he asks softly and Erika nods.

"Do you want anything?" he asks.

"Dauntless cake!" She exclaims.

"Sure," Uriah says. He stands and leaves, going to get her some food.

Once he's far enough away that he can't hear what they're saying, Zeke mimes cracking a whip and Sage bursts out laughing.

"Poor Uriah," Seth says with a smile, "You have him so whipped!"

Erika looks confused. "Eh, I don't own a whip..."

Aria laughs and explains the term. Once Erika understands she laughs happily, "I do kind of, don't I?"

Erika leans back and pops her shoulder blades over the back of the chair and scratches her back when suddenly she jumps, "Oh my God you guys, feel my back. If you put your shoulder blade back, it's all flabby!"

Everyone bursts out laughing. There's just something about a girl holding an ice pack to her face with one hand and scratching her back with the other and then asking you to feel her back, you know?

Uriah reappears, "Here you go." He places a huge slice of chocolate cake down in front of Erika.

She smiles up at him, "Thank you," she says in a babyish voice.

Zeke snorts and Erika glares at him while taking a massive bite out of the cake. After the first bite she seems to realise that holding up an ice pack at the same time is going to be hard, so she places it on the table.

"How's your nose?" Uriah asks.

"Fine. It likes food." She says, as if that was normal.

Aria raises an eyebrow, "Okaaay..."

"I swear! If you don't believe me, just ask!" Erika insists.

"Ask who?" Aria asks in an exasperated tone.

"I don't know, okay? Someone." Erika says, rolling her eyes.

"Hey we never got to feel your flab!" Sage reminds her.

"Oh yeah, here." Erika shows her.

"I'm sorry, what did I miss?" Uriah asks, a confused puppy look on his face.

Erika laughs and explains, "Do you wanna feel it?"

Uriah grins, "Sure." He reaches a hand down her back and Erika squeals."You're so cold!"

"What the hell is going on here?" a voice yells.

Erika leaps about three feet into the air and then realises it's just her brother.

"Oh, we're just feeling your sister's flab," Aria tells him.

"Her_ what_?" he asks, clearly trying to contain his anger.

"My flab! here, you try!" Erika says.

"No, get away from me!" he says, backing away quickly.

Erika looks hurt, "But it's so cool..." she whines.

"So am I, but you don't see people coming up to touch me!" Tobias says.

"Sure you do," Seth says, a joking smile on his face, "Remember when-"

"No. Now shut up." Tobias interrupts.

"Hey!" Aria stands up for Seth.

"Hi!" Erika says sweetly, trying to make a distraction.

Sage decides to join in, "Hi! Wow, it's been way too long, how have you been?"

Uriah joins in too, only he's also imitating a gossiping young girl, "Oh my Gawd, did you do something with your hair, it's gorgeous!"

Eventually everyone becomes distracted and a minor fight has been avoided.

So no one notices at first when Seth murmurs something in Aria's ear and they disappear together moments later.

Once people do notice though, they realise that they should all be going, since tomorrow was to be the day of the Simulation tests!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:: Yeah so I am trying to update this every weekend, (I have my Junior Cert coming up and am only allowed the laptop at the weekends) but last weekend I finished chapter 3 in such a rush, I forgot to add in so much! AGH! It was awful, literally by the end of the chapter I was writing everything in like one sentence descriptions :/ I'm so sorry, it was so awful...**

** SOOOOO I fixed it a few days later, and if some of you haven't read the proper version, I recommend you do so now :) xx it's good for a laugh. You should start reading from the beginning of the fights xxxxx enjoy!**

** Oh, and this chapter contains domestic violence, child beating, cursing, suicide, adoption, and blindness and loads more so basically it's not a very pleasant chapter (nothing too graphic, but still because let's face it; I'm not _that _good a writer :) so I totally get if you're not comfortable with that, but you can't say I didn't warn you!**

Chapter 4

"Eeep! Simulation tests today!" Sage squeals, grabbing Erika by the arms.

"Yes, I know," Erika says, as if talking to a child, "I _am _doing them too, you know."

"No need to be so rude!" Sage pouts.

Erika laughs, "Sorry... I'm just nervous too..."

Aria appears beside them, "Yay! Simulation tests today!"

The other girls stare st her like she's mad, "You're excited?" they ask.

"Of course! Well, no I'm little scared to see my fears, but I think it'll be cool." She says, simply.

"But Tobias is doing them with us! Surely you can't want that?" Sage asks desperately. She seriously didn't want him to see her terrified. It was none of his business.

"Dude!" Erika says, offended.

"Sorry, but it's embarrassing!" Sage says, "What if he tells Zeke?" she whispers.

Erika laughs, but Aria just rolls her eyes, "Zeke's afraid of needles," Aria points out, "He can't say anything to you."

This makes Sage smile, knowing it's true. "Fine. Let's just get them over and done with." she says in a sulky voice.

"Hey, you guys ready?" Seth appears at the door. He leans up against the frame, his black hair falling on his face, his beanie on his head once more.

Aria smiles, "Yep." she says and they take hands, leading the way.

...

_Erika's in an abandoned circus, all her friends around her. For some reason she finds herself absolutely terrified, and she's not sure why. Then she remembers; clowns. She curses under her breath. _

_She turns to Uriah, who's pointing and laughing at something in the distance. "Let's get out of here, you guys." she says._

_But they all disagree. Then Erika sees what they're looking at. She leaps about a foot into the air. "Holy..." She mutters._

_There's about seven clowns with contorted faces, doing an act, way down in the main tent. _

_"You guys..." Erika pleads, but they drag her towards the clowns._

_Once they're close enough, they stop to watch, only the clowns then notice them too. A low hiss escapes one of them and he smiles at Erika, showing a row of pointed fangs._

_"Run!" She pulls at Uriah and Tobais, trying to catch everyone's attention, but they're mesmerized by the clowns._

_"RUN!" she screams, but they don't move. She doesn't want to leave them behind, but she sees no other choice._

_So she runs, leaving her friends behind. AS she runs, she looks back to see he friends and her brother being ripped apart._

_Erika sobs loudly, her heart hammering in her chest. She keeps running, but the clowns are catching up on her. She feels something dig into her shoulder, but there's something about that pain..._

THIS ISN'T REAL

_Erika is no longer scared, she turns to face them, and lets herself be killed, because it's not real. _

_Quickly the simulation moves onto her next fear._

_Erika is surrounded by a tonne of people, all shouting loudly. She can't hear a thing, can barely think... _

_Just breathe, she tells herself... _

THIS ISN'T REAL

_Next fear..._

_"Oh, you little bitch, you think you'd get away with that, huh?" Marcus starts to unbuckle his belt. _

_Erika whimpers like a child. In his eyes, she certainly was one. Just one more year, she reminds herself._

_"Bet you wish you had your brother here to take the beatings for you, don't you?" he says with an evil glint in his eye._

_She shakes her head, "I never asked him to..." she whispers._

_"DID I ASK YOUR OPINION?" Marcus roars. _

_Erika feels her heartbeat stop for just a moment. She's so scared._

_She had been silent for too long, "Well? DID I?" Marcus shouts again._

THIS ISN'T REAL

_"No," Erika murmurs quietly, a little confused. Was this real? It felt real..._

THIS IS'NT REAL

_"No," she says again, but louder this time. It's not real. It's not real._

_Marcus approaches her like a lion stalking it's prey, "Was that confidence I heard in your stupid little voice?" he asks, appalled._

_Erika lets out a tiny laugh. It's not real. "Yeah, maybe it was." she says._

_For a moment, Marcus looks shocked, but he recovers quickly. He tightens his grip on the buckle of his belt. "I guess we'll just have to beat it out of you, then."_

_Suddenly, Erika's no longer afraid. There's tears running down her face, but suddenly she's not scared, because this isn't real. None of it is._

THIS ISN'T REAL

Next thing Erika knows, she's sitting in the Simulations room, her brother sitting across from her, a shocked look on his face.

"Erika," Tobias says. Erika lets out a sob,but she holds back the tears... mostly.

"I'm so sorry," she tells him, wiping the fast falling tears from her face.

"No, I'm sorry." He says, leaving his position at the computer to wrap his arms around her. "I'm sorry I left you there."

Erika sniffles, "It's okay... " she says softly.

Tobias rubs circles soothingly on her back. "He will never touch you again. I promise."

...

_Sage is standing in a room, surrounded by the people she loved; all her friends. Each and every one of them is crying, and it's absolutely terrifying. Sage can barely handle this. She's so awful at helping people like this. _

_"You guys?" she asks. They all turn to face her at the same time. Each of them is holding a knife in one hand._

_"What are you doing?" she asks softly, confused. She reaches out to take Zeke's hand, but he flinches away from her._

_"Don't touch me." he hisses, as if he's scared of her._

_"Please, Zeke, what's going on here?" she cries, so worried._

_Suddenly they all slice their wrists downwards, not even wincing at the pain._

_Sage screams in fright, "NO!" Tears start to stream down her face. This is insane... Is this her fault?_

_"I can't help you! I don't know what to do!" she screams._

_"You can't do anything." Erika tells her._

_Sage gasps... she can't do anything; she can't save them. It's over._

_She shuts her eyes, feeling awful. She has to let them go._

_Next thing she knows, she can hear a loud bug buzzing in her ear. Sage yelps, and opens her eyes quickly._

_There are bugs everywhere, all of them making that disgusting, horrific noise... that sick buzzing. Ew. She starts to run, but they're everywhere, she has nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. So Sage curls up in a ball and makes herself as small as possible. The buzzing of the insects becomes louder and louder, making her shudder. She's not sure how long she stays there, but after what seems like forever, there's finally silence._

_When Sage opens her eyes once more she is standing on the edge of a very tall building. She yelps and jumps backwards, but there's an invisible force pushing her to the edge. She sobs as she looks at the distance between her and the ground. Just get it over and done with, she tells herself. JUMP! So she does._

_When she lands Sage opens her eyes to see herself sitting opposite a woman almost identical to her. The woman is glaring at her with a look of pure hatred. "You shouldn't have come."_

_"Shit." Sage whispers, "Mom?"_

_The woman stands angrily, "Do NOT call me that. I am not your mother. I didn't want you when you were born and I don't want you now. Why would I?"_

_Sage is shocked, "Why? What did I do?"_

_The woman scoffs, "Please, just look at yourself. You're a mess."_

_A single tear falls down Sage's cheek slowly, but she doesn't brush it away. "I'm sorry."_

_"No you're not. You don't care. You don't know me, and I am so glad I never had to know you." The woman says harshly. _

_Sage gulps, letting her eyes close and she lets out a single sob. When she opens her eyes once more she's surrounded by a ton of people who are all watching her intently._

_She cocks her head to the side, "Yes?" _

_All of a sudden all the people start talking. Oh God- conversing. Is this really one of her fears; socializing? That's just sad._

_So she tries to make polite conversation and lets her heart rate drop a little so this whole thing will end. Finally, it just ends._

She blinks and finds herself back in the Simulation Test room, Tobias staring at her like she's a freak. Or maybe it's just her imagination, maybe he always stares at her like that. "What?" Sage asks angrily.

"Wasps?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Just the sound they make. It's disgusting. I couldn't care less about what insect it actually was to be honest." She tells him, standing to leave. He hands her a sheet with her fears, Heights, Bugs, People, Suicide, Saving people and Meeting her birth parents. Six. Not bad.

...

_Aria is sitting in the center of a room, surrounded by dolls. Not just China dolls either; any sort of doll you could name. They're everywhere, and every single one of them is watching her every move. Aw shite... She starts to breathe in little gasps. She can't move- they are literally EVERYWHERE. _

THIS ISN'T REAL

_Could that be true? I mean, after all, she is Divergent... Aria shuts her eyes, and tries to calm herself down just a little, hoping the simulation might move on. And sure enough, when she opens her eyes carefully, this time she's in a room with all her friends. Oh god, what's going to happen?_

_She moved closer and listens while Erika says, "Do you guys ever think about Aria?"_

_Aria starts in shock. What the hell? _

_Seth looks up, "Not really... Not in a long time. Why do you ask?"_

_Aria stumbles and goes to stand in front of her boyfriend, gazing wondrously up at his face. He has changed, a little paler, and maybe thinner too.  
_

_"I dunno," Erika says, "I was just thinking about her last night. I..." She breaks off. "You never think about her?" _

_Sage stays silent and simply stares at Erika with pity, but Seth simply shrugs. "No."_

_Aria feels her eyes start to burn, but she doesn't shed a tear. She reaches out and tries to touch him, but it's as if she's not really there. "Remember me." She whispers, but it's not enough. _

_"Remember me, you bastard!" She yells, trying to hit him, but of course; it doesn't work. _

_Aria sinks to the ground and lands on her knees._

THIS ISN'T REAL.

_She realises she's shaking and tries to calm down. If she can just calm down, she can move on. This will be over. Aria shudders, and watches as the scene around her changes to simple blackness. She waits for the light to appear, but nothing happens. She tries to open her eyes, and then realises they're already open. _

_"Turn on the light," Aria says, trying not to show the fear in her voice._

_Someone grabs her hand and she jumps in fright. "Shh, it's me," A male voice says. _

_"Seth?" She whimpers, "Turn on the light. Please." _

_He rubs her hand soothingly, "The lights are on, babe."_

_Aria starts to panic, "Stop it, Seth. This isn't funny." _

_"Aria," he says, holding her body to him, "I'm not joking, I swear. You... I'm so sorry, babe, you're blind."_

_She hears something shuffle behind her, "Seth, what's behind me?"_

_"Nothing, hun. Don't worry about it." Seth replies calmly._

_"Seth- I CAN'T SEE! What the fuck is behind me?" She's terrifed now. God, how could she survive this? She can't deal with this; she needs to see, needs to know what's happening..._

THIS ISN'T REAL.

_"Nothing." Seth says, "I promise."_

_Aria takes a deep breath and tries to relax. She lets herself be comfortable in Seth's arms. After a long time, the arms around her are gone and Aria knows she's now got to face the next Simulation._

_She's standing in a wide open space that seems to never end. She whirls around and stares behind her- it's the same, everywhere she looks. How is she supposed to do this? She can't look everywhere at once._

_All around her everything goes on forever. Her heart beat speeds up at the thought- forever. Such a long time._

_Aria wanders, absolutely terrified. Every now and then she looks around, worried by the fact that she has no idea what's going on around her in the places she can't see when she looks away._

THIS ISN'T REAL.

_It's so hard to remember that sometimes. Aria sits down and brings her knees up to her chest, curling up into a ball. The instinct to keep looking around is unbelievably hard to fight, but she manages it somehow._

When Aria looks up once more, she's sitting in the Simulation Test room again. Oh thank the Heavens...

"Aria," Tobias says, standing and moving closer to her.

Aria suddenly realises why Sage hadn't wanted Tobias to see her fears. It was weird having him know such private thoughts.

"Just leave it," she says and Tobias nods.

"Okay," he says, "Dolls, having no legacy, blindness and oblivion." he pauses, "Four. Well done."

She smiles politely, "Thanks." Aria lets herself out.

...

_Seth is watching his mother and little sister Heather walk along the side of the chasm. He runs towards them, what were they doing? "Mom!" But neither of them seem to even hear him._

_Suddenly, out of no where a Dauntless man with a gun appears. "Mom, get down!" Seth yells, but neither of them notice either him or the other man._

_"Heather!" He screams. This was his job- protecting his family. Why couldn't he do it? His dad had died six years ago when Heather was born and so there was only Seth left to take care of them. _

_The man sneaks up behind them but Seth jumps in front of his family, feeling only the slightest pain when the bullet hits his heart. He protected them._

_When he opens his eyes again, he's suddenly in deep water, but completely paralyzed. His mind is racing, trying to tell his body to move but he couldn't. He was losing his breath, drowning. He couldn't move or breathe. But he could see and think. So in his mind he envisioned his family, making sure his last moments were with them.  
_

_All of a sudden, Seth can breathe again, only he is now surrounded by a ton of slithering snakes. He yelps and leaps in fright, only to end up stepping on another snake accidentally. He curses under his breath. Come on, if you can think, you can reason your way out of this. Now, of course Seth knew this wasn't true, but what else could he do?_

_So Seth stands there in the centre of a ton of writhing snakes and simply pretends he's not really there._

_And sure enough, the hissing of the serpents fades and when he becomes aware of his surroundings, he realizes he's no longer there.  
_

_This time, Seth is at home with his mother, and she's in the middle of talking. "...your father?"_

_What? Seth tries to think back, but no images enter his mind. His father... who?_

_"Right." he says to his mom._

_"Don't you remember how he used to play with you?" she asks with a smile._

_"Eh..." No. Seth can't remember. That surely wasn't a good sign. Was he going insane?_

_Seth shrugs, "I don't know, mom..." he says, ashamed. What was going on?_

_What is he doing? What the hell is going on? He' s so confused... Is this what madness feels like?_

_Seth groans and puts his head in his hands, brushing his dark fringe off his forehead and taking a deep breath._

When he looks up again, he finds himself back in the Simulations room with Tobias. Seth lets out a deep breath he hadn't realised he was holding. "Aw shit." he mutters. He is so glad that's over.

"Dude, well done." Tobias tells him, "Five." Failing to protect his family, drowning, snakes, forgetting and going insane.

"Thanks man." Seth says, standing and leaving the room quickly.

...

"Wait a second, you're scared of clowns?" Uriah asks his girlfriend. Erika nods.

After the tests finished, everyone reunited in a small room near the Dauntless Leader's offices. Aria and Seth sat on a table in the corner, wrapped up in each other's arms. They both needed to be comforted after the tests, not unlike everyone else, but at least the pair of them had gone through it on the same day.

"High five, me too!" Uriah says happily. The couple high five and then kiss quickly.

"Ew. Get a room, you two." Zeke says. He then turns to Sage. "What about you?" he asks her, "What are your fears?"

Sage lists them and Zeke seems to suddenly understand something.

"You're adopted!" he exclaims, "That explains so much!"

Seth frowns, "It explains, like, nothing."

"No, seriously," Zeke says, "I thought I recognized you, and now I know why- your mom's in Dauntless!"

Sage jumps about a foot into the air in fright.

"You idiot," Aria says to Zeke, "That's one of her fears. What did you tell her that?"

"'Cause, now she can get over the fear." Zeke says calmly.

"No! No way!" Sage says.

"Oh my God, I see it now!" Uriah says, "Sandra-"

"Shut up!" Sage cries and Erika kisses him to keep him quiet. Sage puts her head in her hands, "Her name is Sandra?"

Zeke puts a comforting arm around her, "Yeah. She's really nice, too."

"Stop!" Sage says, flinching away from him, "I don't want to hear this!"

Tobias pokes her, "I know her too, Sage. I'm sure she would love to see you."

Sage stands and backs away quickly, "No, okay? Just don't. I mean, thank you, but please don't." She walks away, closing the door behind her.

"Drama queen," Uriah comments. Zeke glares at him and Erika hits him, "Shut up." But she's smiling.

"Sorry, sorry," he says.

Seth mutters something to Aria who smiles happily, "Sure," she tells him and stands up.

"You guys, we're gonna go, see you later, okay?" she says with a sweet smile. Tobias, Uriah Zeke and Erika wave them goodbye.

Once they leave the room, Erika groans loudly,throwing her body over Uriah's lap, "I'm so bored!"

The boys stare at her like she's an idiot. As if they're not totally bored too, you know?

Uriah nudges Tobias, "Hey isn't that Tris?" he asks. He can see her out the window.

Erika's head snaps up in a flash, "Who's Tris?"

Zeke grins at her, "Not so bored now, are we?"

"Who's Tris?" Erika repeats.

Tobias looks a little scared, "My girlfriend, remember?"

Erika's mouth pops open in surprise, "Seriously? Which one? Is she pretty, can I meet her?"

Tobias looks embarrassed, "Yeah, I suppose so."

"You suppose she's pretty, or you suppose Erika can meet her?" Zeke asks.

"Both," Tobias shrugs.

Uriah knocks on the window, and then girl looks up and rushes around to the door, which Zeke opens for her.

"She's pretty," Erika mutters to Uriah, "Bet she's a bitch."

Uriah laughs but Tobias glares at her, "Shut up." God, it's not her fault he actually heard her.

Tris walks over to Tobias, "Hi," she says.

"Hey," The three boys reply.

"Who's this?" she asks, nudging her boyfriend.

"My little sister, Erika." he mutters, as if he really couldn't care less.

"Oh, hi!" Tris says in a super friendly voice.

Erika smirks, "Oh, so _you're _the bitch that's dating my brother!"

**A/N:: Yeah so Erika doesn't really like her that much :) hehe... More of that in the next chapter. God you have NO idea how awful it was to write that! Erika, Aria and Sage are all based on real people with real fears. So yeah. It wasn't easy to put our own fears out there... which one do you think is based on me, huh? And omg PLEASE leave a review, they seriously make my day :) xxxx Thanks so much **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Oh, so _you're _the bitch that's dating my brother!"

"Erika!" Tobias scolds his sister.

"It's okay," Tris says, "Candor?"

"No, Abnegation. Duh; Four's little sister here. Although maybe I should have been in Candor..." She muses. "Anyway, nice to meet you." Erika tells her sweetly.

"What the hell, Erika?" Tobias groans.

"I was only joking... kind of." She defends.

"Okay, time for you to go to bed." Tobias says.

Uriah stands, suddenly alert, "I'll take her."

Tobias frowns, clearly not trusting Uriah's motives, but then gives in, "Goodnight."

_The Next Day_

"I'm so proud of you," Tobias tells Erika, giving her a hug.

"Thanks," she grins.

Then Uriah runs over and lifts her up, swinging her around, "Congratulations, baby."

Erika laughs happily, "Thanks."

Finally, they're really Dauntless now. They all made it!

"New tattoos, anyone?" Seth suggests, his arm hanging loosely around Aria.

"Yes!" Sage says excitedly.

"Omg me too!" Erika squeaks. "What are you getting?"

"The Dauntless sign." Sage tells her.

"Seriously? Where?" Erika asks, enthralled.

"Eh... I was thinking like here..." Sage points to a point under her left boob.

"Hey, after it's healed and all can I see it?" Zeke asks cheekily.

"Dude!" Seth says, appalled.

"What?" Zeke asks defensively.

"So, Erika, what about you? What are you planning on getting?" Aria asks, quickly changing the subject.

"Five stars behind my ear. One for each of my fears." Erika says lightly.

"Nice," Aria comments.

After about an hour or so, the girls all have their new tattoos and it's time for another tour of the Dauntless compound.

"You never said Eric would be giving the tour!" Erika hisses as they follow the Dauntless leader around the compound.

"What difference does it make?" Zeke asks.

Erika looks at him like he's stupid, "Eh, it means I have to act normal... or at least try..."

"Don't strain yourself," Zeke teases. Erika sticks her tongue out in reply.

"Erika, of you want to have Ezekiel give you a private tour, I'm sure it could be arranged." Eric interrupts.

Erika turns in surprise and accidentally burps loudly in his face. Eric looks so shocked that Erika just bursts out laughing, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

"Let's just continue with the tour, shall we?" Tobias says, dragging Eric away from his sister.

:::::::::::

"The Chasm," Eric says.

"Oh I love the Chasm!" Erica says, "Wouldn't it be so romantic for a first date or something?" Everyone stares at her like she's mad.

Sage is leaning up against the wall of the ledge, as far form the edge as she can get, a panicked look on her face. Zeke has his back to the edge and is talking to her, trying to distract her from the massive height.

Aria and Seth however, are leaning over the edge and are gazing down at the bottom of the chasm, laughing happily.

"Hey Sage, it's okay, we're moving on now, keep your panties on!" Erika tells her friend. "Pansy-cake!" Uriah mutters and Erika giggles.

"Shut up, you two." Tobias and Zeke say at the exact same time.

Eric raises a pierced eyebrow, "Okaaay, well moving on..."

"Wait!" Erika yells, throwing her hands out to stop everyone, "I need to tie up my hair." She does it quickly while everyone watches her patiently. Once it's done she then says, "Alright you guys, it's okay. We can go."

The tour continues for another hour until finally they arrive at their final destination, "The training centre," Eric tells them. "You can come in here whenever you like." He picks up a shotgun, "All practice weapons will be at your disposal."

Suddenly he fires a shot at Tobias and Erika screams, but Tobias stays calm. The bullet barely grazed him. "It's okay," he tells her and then turns back to Eric, "You should work on your aim."

Zeke laughs, but Eric glares at him until he shuts up. "Okay well the tours over. Welcome to Dauntless." Eric says in a stony voice.

Everyone cheers, Uriah lifts Erika up into his arms, Aria and Seth start making out and Sage and Zeke simply disappear, wanting to be alone.

"I don't like him," Sage whispers as they kiss in the dark.

"Who?" Zeke murmurs softly.

"Eric. He's mean." She whines.

Zeke laughs, "Yeah, I see where you're coming from..."

"Mmmhmmm..." Sage murmurs.

Zeke pushes her hair back, "I'll see what I can do."

**A/N:: HEY! So, I know it was really short and all, but what can you do... Look anyway, the next chapter will be better with a huge plot twist so I can't wait- YAY! Anyway Please review xxxx thanks **


	6. Chapter 6

**Yes, I realise that I said I would update like a week ago, and I know I shouldn't be giving excuses, but I have been going through some serious writer's block and it took me ages to get motivated, so you can thank Erica and Aisling for the fact that I'm even updating at all :) I really will be trying to update more regularly, I swear. Anyway, enjoy xxx**

Chapter 6

"One, two, three, four..." Erika starts to count.

Seth and Aria are sitting on a blanket a foot away holding hands, whispering a soft conversation with smiles on their faces. Aria rolls her eyes and says something, causing Seth to push her lightly and she giggles.

Sage and Zeke are lying on top of each other, laughing loudly and totally hyper. Sage is resting her forehead on Zeke's thigh, trying to catch her breath, still laughing.

Erika and Uriah are lying on their backs and are staring up at the sky, counting stars. Yes, just like the OneRepublic song.

The three couples are on a triple date on the top of a tall building just outside the Dauntless compound. It's a dark night, but it's still warm and the stars are bright in the sky, making Erika and Uriah's task a little easier.

"Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..." Uriah counts. The pair have split the sky in half and are each counting their own half.

"Forty two, seventy eight, three, six, four, nine thousand, eleventy nine..." Sage yells, trying to confuse them.

Zeke bursts out laughing, and she feels him shaking underneath her, "Did you just say eleventy nine?"

Sage starts to laugh uncontrollably, "Did I say that?"

Aria is glaring at them with a slightly amused expression on her face, "Yes. I think you did."

Sage is Erika and Uriah are still counting, not put off at all by the situation around them.

Zeke sits up, Sage's head still resting on his lap, "Hey I have an idea!"

"TWENTY, TWENTY ONE, TWENTY TWO..." Erika yells, blocking him out.

"Five, shut up!" he yells back. Sage giggles, but pokes his stomach, confused.

"Five?" she asks.

"Five fears. She _is _Four's sister after all." he reminds her.

Sage sits up with a gasp, "Oh my God, you're so right!" She turns to Aria and Seth who are about to kiss. "Dammit, you guys, did you hear that?"

The couple ignore her and continue kissing, "DUDES!" she throws something in their direction, but misses by like a meter. "Oops."

"What?" Aria asks, irritated.

"We're in the middle of something," Seth says in only a slightly friendlier tone.

"Erika's nickname- it's Five, gettit?" Sage says smiling proudly.

Aria's jaw drops, shocked that Sage would interrupt their make-out session for this. "Wow. Okay."

"That's nice," Seth says dismissively and grabs Aria again, pulling her into him. They go back to kissing.

"Huh. Fine then." She turns back to Erika and Uriah and crawls over to them, "Hey, Five!"

"Thirty six, thirty-"

"Five!" Sage tries to grab her attention

"SEVEN!" Erika corrects her. "I know your not good with numbers, Sage, but come on..."

"No, you idiot, your new nickname- Five!"

Erika finally pulls her eyes away from the sky, "Oh my God, I get it!" she's smiling happily.

"I know, right?" Sage is smiling happily and giggling.

"I dare you to get your brother's nickname tattooed on you, and he has to get yours tattooed on him!" Zeke says suddenly.

Erika starts to laugh and then realises he's not joking, "You're serious?"

"Yeah, of course." Zeke grins cheekily.

After a moment of deliberating, Erika shrugs, "Sure, why not."

"I am totally supportive of any choice you make in life," Uriah tells her in a mock serious tone.

"So I can cheat on you?" Erika teases.

Uriah shrugs, "I repeat, I am totally suppportive-" he breaks off in a cute laugh, "I'm just kidding, if you cheat on me, I'll kill him."

Sage, Erika and Zeke laugh.

"Guys, seriously? Keep it down," Aria calls over.

"Join us!" Zeke replies.

Aria groans but she stands, dragging Seth over by the hand with a sweet grin on her face.

Erika starts to hum Counting Stars and everyone else joins in, totally out of tune, but loud all the same. Once the song finishes everyone cheers happily.

"Hey how about we go back to Four's apartment? I hear he has a stash of drink," Erika suggests.

"Yeah!" Uriah yells, dragging Erika up onto her feet.

Seth and Aria run alongside each other, holding hands and swinging their arms. Zeke is giving Sage a piggy-back and Uriah and Erika are racing each other, and each and every one of them is laughing loudly.

Erika kicks open the door to her brother's apartment and the gang squeeze inside, heading straight for the fridge. "Found it!" she yells, holing up two bottles of Tequila.

"That's it?" Zeke asks, setting Sage down on the fluffy rug in the next room.

"Hell no, there's like another six bottles right here, and then we've got a few six packs of beer, and-"

"Okay, we get the point; we're gonna have really bad hangovers tomorrow," Seth says with a smile.

So almost twenty shots and two beers later for each of them, things are really getting interesting.

Aria has suddenly become a loud and obnoxious, but Seth is still by her side. "Oh my God!" she's laughing so hard she can barely speak, "I really want a sloth, I mean- look at them!" She bursts into a fit of giggles. Seth grins and runs his hand up and down her arm.

Erika however, is lying across Uriah, a tear falling slowly down her cheek, "I really love you, you know?" she murmurs, swiping the tear swiftly. Uriah grabs her hand and kisses it softly, "Yeah babe, I love you too." Erika sits up and pulls his face to hers, and they kiss passionately.

"Ew, oh my God..." Sage groans and sits herself down on Zeke's lap. He kisses her neck softly and she giggles, leading his hand to the small of her back and up her top.

Erika glares at them, "They thought _we _were bad!" Uriah rubs her hand comfortingly.

They hear someone singing loudly outside the door. Each of the couples breaks apart. Aria starts to giggle, "They're such a shitty singer!"

"I think it's beautiful," Erika says in a sincere tone.

"Who do you think it is?" Seth asks with a drunk grin on his pale face.

"Let's find out!" Aria stands suddenly and promptly topples over, laughing loudly.

"Here, babe, come on." Seth helps her up as she continues laughing happily.

She drags open the door to see- "Eric!" she exclaims, stumbling towards him but Zeke holds her back.

"Careful. He's bad enough sober, Aria. He's smashed." he warns her.

"Not as smashed as me!" she says in a sing-song voice and laughs sweetly.

Eric looks up, realizing he's not alone. He takes a wobbly step towards them, "Hey!"

"Hi!" Aria smiles, still giggling uncontrollably.

"Okay, come here." Seth picks her up in his arms and pulling her back inside.

"No! I wanna make a friend!" Aria complains, but she's still smiling.

"You have me," he reminds her, tapping her nose, making her giggle even more.

"Boop!" she returns the favor.

Sage however is leaning against the door frame, trying to appear sexy, not as if the drunk leader would notice anyway. "Eric! You look awful," she simpers.

Zeke stands behind her with one hand on her shoulder, whispering warnings into her ear, but she ignores him and steps into the hall, a hand outstretched.

"Come here, sweetie," she croons, and puts a hand on the leaders arm.

He glares down at her with piercing grey eyes and lets out a hungry growl. Sage giggles.

"Okay, that's it. Get back here." Zeke takes Sage into his arms but Eric swipes him away, "No!"

"Eric!" Zeke shouts at him, annoyed. How could their leader be so reckless?

"Let's have some fun..." he murmurs, pulling Sage back to him and leaning down for a kiss.

All of a sudden Sage seems to sober up and realize what she's doing and tries to pull away, but Eric's grip is strong. He sees Zeke making his way back over and drags Sage down the corridor with him and up onto the roof.

"Eric," Sage whispers, scared to force him into something, but she needs to get away, "I'm scared of heights, honey, remember?"

"So close your eyes," Eric mutters and pulls away the neck of her top to kiss her shoulder hungrily.

"Eric, I can't!" She whimpers, trying to get him to believe her. She wonders if faking a panic attack might stop him, but she doubted it.

"Shut up" he growls.

Sage pushes away from him and trips onto the cold rooftop. "Shit." she can see the others running in her direction, and so can Eric. He takes one glance at her, and one at the others and decides to risk a fight. He lunges straight into the gang but Uriah immediately catches him and lands a punch in the leader's stomach.

Eric groans and stumbles backwards. Erika sees it almost in slow motion, knows what will happen just before it actually does. She reaches a hand out, as if it could help, but even still she sees it as the Dauntless leader stumbles backwards and trips over the edge of the rooftop, somersaulting off the building.

They all hear the sound of impact when he lands below, but Aria is the only one who actually dares to go and see if he has somehow actually survived.

She peers over the edge and inspects the view before her eyes. "Huh."

Eric is lying in an almost impossible position, his arm looks dislocated, but judging by the fact that his spine seems to be broken, Aria guesses he can't feel the pain. In fact, she presumes he more than likely hasn't survived, since he's not actually moving... like, at all.

Erika clears her throat and raises her can of beer. Typically, she still has it. "To Eric, our leader and teacher. He won't be missed."

It's cruel, but true. And it's along with the mutual agreement of that fact and the knowledge that there really isn't anything other they could do in this situation, the gang celebrate the death of their leader, not regretting a thing.

**A/N:: Yay, so Eric's dead :) bet ya didn't see that coming, huh? So yeah, please review :) xxxxx Thanks**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Erika can't sleep, so she decides to slip out of the apartment she shares with Four and go to the Chasm for some peace and quiet. After all, it is her favorite place.

Little does she know, her brother heard her leave the apartment, and could guess where she was going. So, being the fabulous big brother he is, he called his best friend and together they came together with a plan that was just about to unfold.

Erika is sitting on the bridge of the chasm, her legs dangling over the edge. She's humming to herself, deep in thought when all of a sudden something pushes her over the edge, but catches her at the last second. Erika screams in fright, her heart racing.

"Hey, look, I just saved your life!" Uriah is still holding her as he sits down beside her with a massive grin on his face.

"You jerk!" Erika shoves him playfully, smiling back at him.

"You're lucky I'm strong, or you actually would have fallen." he comments. "I mean, if it had been Zeke, you would be dead by now."

Erika laughs, "I hope you'd miss me."

Uriah feigns looking hurt, "Of course!"

"Good." Erika snuggles up into his arms.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Tobias appears suddenly, Zeke grinning madly beside him.

"Were you spying on me?" Erika asks shrilly. "Seriously?"

"Maybe!" Zeke and Tobias say at the exact same time. Erika sees how people sometimes presume that the boys are more than just friends, and wonders how it doesn't annoy Sage.

"Look," Tobias says, crouching down beside the young couple, "I just like to interfere, what can I say?"

"Eh, how about 'Goodbye'?" Erika asks pointedly.

Zeke grins, "Oooh, looks like someone wants to be on their _own_!"

Tobias laughs along with him, but he does stand to leave, "Enjoy yourselves." he tells them, "But not too much."

The boys disappear the same way they came, silently and discreetly. Uriah reaches into his backpack beside him and pulls out some Dauntless cake.

Erika's eyes widen in pleasant surprise, "Yummy!"

Uriah teases her by putting the cake out of her reach and Erika whines like a kicked puppy, knowing her boyfriend's soft spots. "Ah ah," Uriah moves it again. Tears appear in Erika's eyes and she blinks them away quickly, embarrassed.

"Aw, babe sorry I was just messing, here you go." he breaks off a bit and pops it into her mouth.

Erika sniffles softly, "No, I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. It's just-" she breaks off.

Uriah squeezes her hand reassuringly, "Go on,"

"Well, it's just that, food has always been there for me, you know?" She asks.

"You're from Abnegation," he reminds her.

"I used to sneak food in... one of the reasons I used to get beaten more often than Tobias," Erika informs him shyly. "But anyway, look, I swear I love you more!"

"I don't know, Erika," Uriah says, unsure. He doesn't want to fight with her, he really likes her. But, sometimes she did little things like this and he couldn't help but be a little annoyed.

"Fine." Erika pouts, knowing he simply won't listen anyway, "Be like that."

"Hey!" A voice interrupts; it's Tobias. Erika groans. What is he doing back?

"What are you doing?" she hisses, angry.

"No, what are _you _doing?" he retorts.

"Dayum!" Zeke buts in.

"Shut up." Erika and Tobias say at the exact same time.

"Are you two fighting?" Zeke asks, a sly grin on his face.

"Go away, man." Uriah says rudely, "This is none of your business."

"But you're my baby brother!" Zeke simpers in a false voice, reaching out to ruffle Uriah's hair, but Uriah pushes him away, "Stop it."

"Hey, just kiss and make up, okay?" Tobias tells his sister. Erika sticks her tongue out at him and he claps, "Yes just like that, only shove it down his throat."

Zeke laughs, but Uriah and Erika just glare at him. Tobias's gaze softens a little, "Fine." He takes their hands and brigs them together and makes them look at each other. "See, you know you want to."

Erika rolls her eyes, but leans in to kiss Uriah anyway. She's not sure whether he'll accept her kiss, but he certainly doesn't push her away.

"Hey!" Tobias pulls them apart and points across the chasm, "Is that who I think it is?"

There are two figures speaking in hushed tones as they walk hand in hand along the edge, out of the Dauntless compound. They walk side by side and every now and then a light shines on one of them and you can see her unmistakable electric blue hair.

"Aria and Seth?" Erika asks loudly.

"Shush!" The boys hush her. Tobias holds up a hand to silence her but Uriah actually puts a hand over her mouth. Zeke however jumps on top of her, holing her head down, "Don't, you'll blow our cover!" he whispers furiously in her ear.

Erika tries to quieten her giggling but it's hard with Zeke on top of her, also she can feel him laughing too.

"Let's follow them," Zeke says, pulling out his phone and dialing Sage's number.

They start to follow the couple, as Sage answers her phone with a grunt. "Come to the Chasm," Zeke hisses. Sage groans, but agrees.

::::::::

Seth is humming a tune, swinging their intertwined hands back and forth to the beat. Every now and then Aria would join in with a improvisational harmony line. This is the great thing about them; neither of them needed many words, but could understand each other anyway.

They kept to themselves, and often got teased for it by the others. Zeke always asked where they sneaked off to all the time, but that was between them, and nobody else. Both Aria and Seth are Divergent, and that's what gave them their individuality. They like to escape the Dauntless compound to be someone else, someone who couldn't be defined by just one faction.

As a child, Seth had found an old abandoned music store from before the Factions. There he taught himself to play the piano, creating tunes as he learned. When he met Aria he knew she was like him and he knew she would love it. Now, the music store is their getaway place, where they can go to be alone. And that's where they're headed right now.

:::::::::

"What the hell is this place?" Erika hisses as they follow Seth and Aria through an old town.

"Before the factions there-" Zeke starts off before he's interrupted by Uriah who just says, "This is what was before the factions."

"Okay, then." Erika mutters.

Seth drags Aria into a run down building and the others stop outside. After a minute of soft debating on whether or not to follow them inside, they hear something they did _not _expect to hear- music.

"What are they doing in there?" Uriah hisses, trying not to laugh. He wasn't going to admit it, but he thought they were sneaking off to make out or something, not to play music...

Erika giggles. "Oh please can we go in? I've always wanted to play the flute!"

Zeke rolls his eyes, but nods. "Sure."

::::::::

Seth starts to play on the piano and Aria picks up her favourite saxophone and joins in. She's pretty good at improvising. Not as good as Seth, but she's really not bad. There's the sudden bang of a door opening and Aria nearly drops the saxophone in fright. Seth frowns and glances worriedly at the entrance where the pair are shocked to see Erika, Uriah and Zeke.

"Hey you two are so good, don't stop!" Erika says, waving at them to continue.

Aria can't help but laugh. Obviously, she doesn't want them here, but there's nothing she can do now. But there is no way she's going to play for them. "I don't think so."

Suddenly, Zeke's phone rings and he picks it up. "Hey. Okay, I'll be there in a second. Don't move." He hangs up and smiles apologetically at the others. "Sage," he explains. "She has the beer."

Aria almost groans. Sure, she likes getting drunk, but why does every single gathering these days always turn into a drinking game? It's tiring.

Zeke slips back out the front door and Erika picks up a dusty flute from the counter top. While everyone else is distracted she polishes it up with her sleeve. She brings it to her lips and starts to play. A clear sound emits the instrument and she jumps in surprise. "Oh!" She starts to laugh.

"You can play the flute?" Uriah asks curiously.

"Nope." she laughs again. "It's cool though, right? I've always wanted to play the flute."

She plays a few notes again and this time Seth joins in with the piano. Considering the fact that Erika has absolutely no idea what notes she's playing, it sounds pretty great.

Zeke and Sage have arrived back just in time to see Aria join in too. Sage grabs Uriah's arm, "What the hell did I miss?" She asks, a panicked expression on her face. Uriah laughs and explains. "That is amazing!" She exclaims. Then she giggles, "And guess what? I have the drink!"

Erika stops playing to cheer. "Doritos?" She asks, rummaging through the bag.

"Yup." Sage tells her, "And there's a dip in there too somewhere, I think..." She stops talking as Zeke pulls her away inot a kiss. She pulls back from him for a second to ask, "What was that for?"

"For being so sweet." he tells her, making her laugh.

::::::::::

Two hours later, it's still dark outside, but now everyone's pretty tipsy and a little cold too. Aria is snuggled up against Seth and every now and then he would feed her a Malteaser. When he feels her shiver he squeezes her closer to him.

"Here, take this." he pulls off his trade mark beanie and Aria almost gasps. Her eyes widen as he pulls it down over her head and she knows that they're both remembering their first kiss, when Aria took his beanie.

"You guys, we're actually amazing, you know that?" Sage asks.

Erika bursts out laughing, but Sage it totally serious. "No, really. We made it past initiation, we're all in stable relationships, excluding the fact that you two-" she points at Uriah and Erika "Broke up today for like five whole minutes. And we're all like... I can't even describe it-"

"That would be the alcohol." Aria comments.

"Shut up," Sage smiles. "But we're all just so..."

"Drunk?" Erika prompts.

"Well yes, but no. We're all so... perfect. Not to sound big-headed or anything, but you know it's true." Sage says.

"Pretty much." Aria says in agreement.

"Okay, I think that's enough beer for you," Zeke pulls the can out of his girlfriend's grasp, despite her protests.

"Yeah. We're gonna go." Aria says, standing, Seth's arm still around her shoulders.

"Bye!" Erika stands and almost falls over, but Aria catches her in a hug. "Yeah, okay, bye." she says, totally uninterested.

"Goodnight." Sage says, rolling over and closing her eyes on Zeke's chest. "Or Good morning. I dunno."

"See ya." Seth says, and they leave.

"You guys, we're so amazing!" Erika imitates Sage.

"Shut up!" Sage moans, snuggling deeper into Zeke and almost falling asleep.

"Looks like we better go too." Zeke says, helping Sage up.

""'Kay, bye!" Erika says enthusiastically. She's super happy to be left alone once more with just her and Uriah. She turns to him and he holds out his arms for her. While, obviously she knew Sage had been utterly smashed when she had spoken earlier, Erika could actually see some truth to what she said. They were pretty perfect. Especially Uriah, she can't help thinking.

"I love you," Uriah tells her, making her smile uncontrollably.

"Well, I love you too." she says.

"I know."


	8. Chapter 8

**It's Erika's 15th Birthday! YAY! Also, this chapter is mostly written by my amazing friend Meagan, as I was too lazy to start it myself :/ xxx Meagan and I have two very different styles of writing so you can probably see where she stopped and I started . Ahyway; this is Erica's Birthday chapter :) Enjoy xxxx**

Chapter 8

Erika wakes with a start, feeling a heavy weight lying next to her. She slowly shakes her head, trying to shake away her disorientation. Bits and pieces of the previous night slowly drip into her memory. She went to bed alone. The realization hits her like a sledgehammer to the face, someone is in her bed! She looks up with wide frightened eyes, looking every bit as innocent as she never was, and her eyes land on the smirking face of Tobias.

"Four, go away!" She moans, rolling over and stuffing her face into her pillow, dizzily recalling her dream of the world's largest pie, even better yet, a Dauntless pie and immediately wants to punch Four in the face for disturbing her.

"Happy Birthday," he says, way too loud for this time in the morning, making Erika realize she has no idea what time it is at all. She moans into her pillow again, understanding that it's probably ridiculously early as Tobias is waking her up and he's the only one who doesn't understand her desire to sleep. Even Aria understands bugging her in the morning is the same as asking to be hit in the teeth.

Erika is confused, he remembered? He had never remembered before, always too caught up in avoiding beatings and being the perfect son to one of the Government leaders from Abnegation- the faction of selfless leaders, who could never be corrupted. The irony. And then she realizes, in a moment of tear-jerking clarity, she understands that she's not in Abnegation anymore- she's in Dauntless, where everything is celebrated and understood for what it was and wasn't. Nothing was regretted or forgotten- everything was accepted.

But still, Erika is nervous. She doesn't understand traditions, she doesn't know what they do to celebrate birthdays. She was born Abnegation and became a transfer to Dauntless- would she be treated differently? Would she even be celebrated today- the day she was born? Or would she have a new day to celebrate- the day she officially became Dauntless?

"Thanks," She mutters unsurely, still half asleep.

"Oh no," he pulls off her blanket and she squeals at the feeling of cold air clinging to her form like a second skin and raising goosebumps across her body. He smirks deviously at her unseeing form, watching as she blearily rubs at her eyes before she buries her face under her pillow, clutching at it desperately when Tobias tickles her cold feet. Her legs kick wildly and he attempts to dodge- trying to reach her pillow and drag her out of the bed. His eyes widen as Erika's foot lands on its mark and the last thing he hears as he sinks to the ground, hands clutching the pained area, is her manic laughter.

::::::::::

Fifteen minutes later, Erika stumbles into the kitchen, tired and oddly satisfied, and slumps down at the table. She's still wearing her pyjamas, not bothered to change into her Dauntless clothes when she knows nothing of what'll happen today. Her hair is absolutely awful (or so she thinks although anyone with eyes would disagree) but either way, she couldn't care less.

"You look a mess," Tobias says teasingly, not bothering to be polite- after all, he is Dauntless.

"I don't care," Erika mutters quietly, feeling the sudden thud of her morning headache kick into the back of her skull like a swinging wrecking ball. "No one in their right mind would be up at this hour."

Tobias snorts at her, his eyes almost screaming at her that her reply is nuts. Completely stupid. "Erika this is Dauntless, no one here is in their 'right mind'."

There's a knock on the door and he stands, looking at it expectantly. "That would be Uriah," he answers her unvoiced question, sending her a suggestive wink as her face suddenly brightens.

But then suddenly Erika _does_ care that she looks a mess, or at least in her own mind she does. Her boyfriend is here, and no matter what he's supposed to think of her, whether he really does like her for all her flaws and everything wrong with her and right with her, she doesn't want him to see her like this. She flees to her room, trying to avoid tripping over the mess of clothes scattered around the floor and gets dressed hurriedly. When she comes out again, she looks amazing, wearing ripped black skinny jeans, her favorite combat boots and a black crop-top. Her colored hair hangs loosely around her shoulders in gentle waving locks, giving her that last asset to make her the dizzying epitome of pure perfection.

Uriah's eyes widen when he sees her, and he rakes them up and down her form repeatedly, trying to focus on what exactly it is about her that he likes most. Maybe it's the way she looks so battle-ready, strong in a way that doesn't come off as intimidating but rather...sexy. Or at least to him.

"Wow, you look..." His incomplete sentence is emphasized by another raking of his eyes up and down her body appreciatively. But it goes unnoticed by Erika.

"If you say hot, I will kick you so hard, my foot will come out your mouth and when I'm fucking done with you you'll wish you'd transferred to Amity!" Tobias warns, his over-protectiveness showing its daily appearance.

Uriah's eyes widen in slight fear, anybody with eyes would be terrified of Tobias- regardless of knowing what faction he was in or who he was. He chooses his words carefully, running them through his head once or twice before offering a crooked smile.

"Amazing," he finishes and Erika grins in response, blushing lightly. It was one thing knowing that you looked amazing but it was another thing hearing your boyfriend tell you that. It had a certain heart warming affect, something that made girl-ish butterflies flutter around her stomach.

"I try my best," She tells him softly, because it's true and she does. She always tries her best for Uriah- wanting to be everything he needs, everything he wants and doing her damn best to be all of it. She doesn't want him to leave her and she hopes, in a brief moment of vulnerability, that he won't. She leans into him, puckering her lips in a playful pout that begs for him to kiss it away.

"Happy Birthday, Baby," he tells her. Again not sure what else to say, Erika kisses him tenderly on the corner of his mouth, thanking him wordlessly.

"Now, for your birthday presents!" Tobias says with a grin, making a flourish with his hands as he draws the couple's attention away from each other, desperately trying to avoid gagging at the continuous displays of affection. He opens the front door and nods his head at the person who enters. Erika stares at them for a long moment before looking at the kit in their hands and understanding - it's a tattoo artist.

"Eh, what?" Erika asks, confused. Presents were physical objects weren't they? Or at least that's what they normally were... Wait! Was her present a tattoo artist? Like one to cart around and just say, "this is my tattoo artist". Was it some coming of age thing? Or just a Dauntless thing? Did every Dauntless get their own tattoo artist?

"Well, you're getting the number Four tattooed on you." He stopped his sentence there, leaving Erika staring at him. That's what she got? Sounded more like a present for Tobias! She eyed him in irritance, expecting an elaboration.

"It's my birthday present and Uriah's birthday present you're getting your..." he coughed deeply, his cheeks turning an embarrassed and uncomfortable shade of red. "You're getting you...naval...um...pierced." Tobias explained.

Erika's mouth dropped open in mild shock. Tobias...was going to let her get her _naval_ pierced?"Oh my _Gawd, _ seriously?"

"Yep."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

An hour later, when Erika is all tattooed. Her body stings slightly from the needle but she ignores it. She looks at the clock and frowns- It's not even lunch.

"Remind me again, why did I get up so early?" She asks, whining as her stomach growls.

Uriah laughs slightly before replying, softly ruffling her hair."You woke up because of Tobias _but_ you kicked him in the crown jewels so I think it's all fair. Now, we're going out." he tells her.

"Wait, where are we going?" Erika protests with a giggle. This is so different from anything she's used to.

"You'll see." Uriah says mystically. He drags her along beside him, gently prodding her every now and then to get her to laugh.

After walking for ages to the edge of the Dauntless compound, Erika thinks she can guess where they're bringing her. "Are we going zip-lining?" She asks eagerly. She has always enjoyed it, so if that _is _where she's going, she can't wait!

"What? No!" Uriah denies it, but he's a horrible liar. He would never last on truth syrum. "What gave you that idea?"

"Dude, you're an awful liar." Tobias tells him, rolling his eyes. So the secrets out, he doesn't care. He's shocked Uriah could hold his tongue this long.

Uriah laughs, "I know." he says, not a care in the world.

"So, we're going zip-lining?" Erika asks again, super excited. She bounces along beside Tobias and gazes up at him, hoping he'll just tell her.

"Well-"

"Stop. Just stop." Tobias interrupts Uriah, stopping him from ruining the last element of surprise left in the day. "We can't answer that," he tells his little sister, making her pout, "It's strictly confidential."

Erika laughs sweetly, "Whatever."

Not to Erika's surprise, the boys lead her to the massive building that Zeke uses for zip-lining. Even from below, Erika can hear Sage freaking out and Zeke trying to shut her up at the top of the building.

Erika races the boys up the stairs. She's not sure if they're just letting her win, either because it's her, or because it's her birthday, or maybe they're not letting her win...

When they reach the roof, Erika squeals in delight, "Oh my god!"

The whole gang is there. Sage has calmed down by now and has buried herself in Zeke's comforting arms. Aria and Seth and swinging their legs over the edge of the building, but when they see Erika, Aria runs over to give her a huge hug while telling her happily, "Happy Birthday!" Tris is sitting beside a mountain of food, drink and _Dauntless cake_!

Erika is delighted, so amazed that they would all go to such efforts just for her. She can't help but ask Uriah, "Is this all just done for me?"

Uriah nods with a grin and pulls her over to her favorite food of all time; Dauntless cake. "Try it!" he tells her, and she does. The cake is just as amazing as she expected it to be, and maybe even just a little bit better.

"You guys, this is wonderful," Erika says through a mouthful of Dauntless cake.

"We know." Tris says, who is now sitting beside Tobias being fed small bits of Dauntless cake.

"This isn't the best part." her brother tells her with a kind smile. He's so proud of her right now, and so happy to finally see her smiling.

"What?" Erika asks, completely shocked. What could be better than Dauntless cake?

"Come over here," Zeke says. He's readying up the zip-line and Erika realises it's her turn. She lets him get her ready and once she's all set up Zeke asks, "Ready?"

"Em, yeah..." Erika says, a little confused. How is this supposed to be the best part?

Suddenly she doesn't care anymore, because Zeke has pushed her and she's flying! She distinctly hears Uriah yell behind her, "I'm right behind you!"

The sights below her are blurring into one; she's going so fast! But gradually she slows down and she see's that someone has written HUGE graffiti on the flat roofs of the buildings below. It says, "Happy Birthday!" with a ton of x's obviously from Aria and Sage.

Once she has arrived at a standstill, Erika hops off the zip-line, suddenly feeling really hyper. She looks up to see Uriah coming down fast. He jumps, landing a lot more gracefully than Erika remembers landing. She runs to hug him, almost knocking them both to the ground.

"Thank you so much, this is the best!" She tells him. But after a moment of quick deliberating, Erika simply _has_ to say it. "I still don't get why I had to get up so early."

Uriah just laughs loudly, saying nothing. Once he's calmed down a bit he tells her, "Think of it as a sort of Birthday present."

**A/N:: Yay! Happy Birthday Erica! xxxxxxxxxxx And again, thanks sooooo much to Meagan for typing and correcting and adding a LOAD of detail to the first half of this chapter xxxxxxxx**


End file.
